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Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems. Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. Individual challenges address some of the same problems, but from differing perspectives.

Agnes FigueiredoUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Grand Challenges Brazil

Drug Resistance Burden

1 Nov 2018

The project will use molecular approaches, including genomics and phylogenomics, to find biomarkers that could indicate the location in the genetic code driving bacterial adaptation. In addition, these biomarkers could be used as a rapid method for screening predominant and high-virulency MRSA clones in hospitals, and thus quickly provide infection control committees with key data on MRSA spread and its antimicrobial resistance profile.

The idea is to develop an artificial intelligence model capable of simultaneously analyzing data from the Laboratory Information System and from the Hospital Information System. This technology aims to enable the delivery to hospital physicians of a ranked list of antimicrobials that are more suitable to treat infection by multi-resistant microorganism with a focus on newborn and young children.

The project will study the genetic material from environmental samples from humans (healthy and ill), cattle and their meat to estimate the proportion of E. coli and K. pneumoniae in the microbiome. The main objective is to better understand the distribution of bacteria and its resistance genes, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria and extended spectrum beta-lactamase (EsβL) and carbapenemases encoding genes in distinct ecological sources.

This project proposes the development of the One Health Brazilian Resistance (OneBR), a curated and integrated genomic database. OneBR will use algorithms based on artificial intelligence to conduct surveillance, diagnosis, management and treatment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the human-animal-environment interface. The goal is for this platform to be used by Brazilian health professionals in diverse settings, particularly within the Unified Healthcare System (SUS).

Rejane PinheiroUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Grand Challenges Brazil

Drug Resistance Burden

1 Nov 2018

The researcher will use machine learning techniques and a linked database to analyze mortality from drug-resistant tuberculosis. The goal is to better understand how the flow of patients through the health services network have influenced, or not, the occurrence of resistance.

The project proposes to characterize the resistant determinants of microbial communities from key sources in hospitals, environment and farms to model the dynamics of the flow of antibiotic resistant microorganisms. The goal is to understand how the hospital environment and animal farming affect the ecology of antibiotic resistance movement. The project will rely on a methodology that allows the analysis of genes related to antibiotic resistance in a complex microbial community derived from specific samples instead of culture based methods for AMR identification.

Bacterial plasmids are genetic elements that can carry genes for antibiotic resistance from one bacteria to another acting as "messengers". Plasmid transfers contribute to the appearance of multidrug resistant bacteria. This project aims to use a "kill the messenger, not the bacteria" approach to tackle the problem of increasing antibiotic resistance. The goal is to test the elimination of plasmids carrying genes for antimicrobial resistance.

This project will test a sustainable solar oxidation system as a way to remove antibiotic resistant bacteria from wastewater. The hypothesis is that this technology can enable the inactivation of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the elimination of antibiotic resistant genes from effluents in Brazil.

The project aims to monitor AMR in microorganisms of the urinary tract and correlate it with the genetic determinants of resistance in animal enterobacteria. The study results will be disseminated in order to inform potential changes to guidelines regarding selection of the appropriate antimicrobials first-line treatment for urinary tract infections (UTI).

Leonardo MouraUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Grand Challenges Brazil

Drug Resistance Burden

1 Nov 2018

The project proposes to use an aerobic granular sludge (AGS) - a technology based on microbial community - to remove antibiotics and antimicrobial resistant genes from hospital wastewater. AGS is one of the latest innovations and it has not yet been applied for the treatment of hospital wastewater.

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